Canasta board



May 14, 1957 l. A. CHAIKIN 2,792,228

CANASTA BOARD Filled Aug. 31, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 map THREES 4 W" "a g FIG. I

FIG.2

l WELDS CANASTAS- INVENTOR. ISIIDQRE A. CHAIKIN FIG:

I. A. CHAIKIN CANASTA BOARD May 14, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. -31, 1953 JNVENTOR.

ISIDORE A. CHAIKIN BY 1 Elk A "BY United States Patent O CANASTA BOARD Isidore A. Chaikin, Miami Beach, Fla.

Application August 31, 1953, Serial No. 377,491

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-148) This invention relates to a canasta board having utility in the playing of the card game of that name.

An object of the invention is to provide a canasta board which will facilitate the course of the game and permit observation of the progress thereof in full view of the players therein engaged.

Another object is to provide a device of the character and for the purpose described which will be economical in manufacture, simple in manipulation, and eflicient in use.

The invention is embodied in a canasta board exemplified in the accompanying drawings wherein the views are as follows, like reference numerals designating identical parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1, a plan of the board;

Fig. 2, a section on line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a section on line 33, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4, a fragmentary plan of a modified board;

Fig. 5, a fragmentary front elevation of one of the guideways formed on the board;

Fig. 6, a section on line 6-6, Fig. 1;

Fig. 7, a section on line 77, Fig. 4; and

Fig. 8, a section on line 88, Fig. 4;

Fig.9, a modified sectional view of line 6-6, Fig. 1.

The canasta board comprises a substantially rectangular flat panel 1, on which is arranged a plurality of vertically disposed clamps 2 spaced laterally thereacross. Adjacent the top edge thereof, the board has one elongated clamp 3 and a relatively shorter clamp 4, both members being horizontally disposed and in alinement.

The clamps, Figs. 6 and 9, each have an upright leg 5 adapted to be received in an elongated slot 6 (Fig. 1) formed in the panel 1 and these legs terminate at the bottom thereof in a spread flange or anchor strip 7 which may be secured between the under side of the panel 1 and a backing board 8, Figs. 2, 3 and 6, the backing board underlying the panel and providing suitable stiffening or reinforcement therefor. The backing board 8 may be formed of any relatively light, rigid material, such as cork board, plywood, fibre board, or the like. This backing member 8 may be fastened to the panel 1 thereabove by any conventional means known in the art as, for example, by cementing thereto, or by riveting or stapling, (Fig. 9). As shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 6, the backing board is held in place relative to the panel 1 by turning the side edges of the panel downwardly and inwardly to form a marginal flange 9 underlying the side edges of the backing, in a manner known in the art.

The leg 5, of each clamp, is bent or turned downwardly as at 10, forming an arcuate jaw member with the convex or bottom face thereof in clamping engagement with the surface of the panel 1 thereunder. These clamps are fabricated from a clear transparent material such as one of the conventional plastic substances, being selected for characteristics of flexibility with a suitable rigidity to exert the clamping force desired, as well as a degree of elasticity to permit the anchor strip 7 to be passed through the slot 6, as hereinabove described.

. Among a variety of industrial and ornamental plastic formulations known in the art from which the clamps may be shaped, examples are the cellulose nitrates, phenolic resins, aniline-formaldehyde resins, polyester resins, and other resins susceptible of producing the shape desired, it being understood that the invention is not limited within the purview thereof to a specific formulation or composition therefor.

Referring now to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the lateral spacing of the clamps provides intermediate of the leg members 5 thereof, a guideway running vertically of the board and adapted to accommodate between the leg members defining this guideway a plurality of playing cards C, the cards being gripped along their left margins by the leftmost clamp (as viewed in the drawing), and assisted in stability while thus retained by the leg 5 of the rightmost clamp. At the same time, by virtue of the transparency of the clamps, the value and denomination or suit of the cards are readily observed, the figures and markings thereon being visible on the left margins of the cards when arranged with their end portions only exposed to view.

Figs. 4, 7, and 8, disclose one of the several modifications of the structure of my canasta board without departing from the spirit of the invention. Such structure may take the form of a panel 11 having an outer peripheral flange 12 terminating in the usual cylindrical pedestals 13 in which is arranged a suitable form of pad 14. In this form the clamps, identical with those hereinbefore described, each has a leg member 5 terminating at the bottom thereof in any suitable enlargement as at 15 whereby to provide an anchor member resiliently gripped between the walls of a groove 16 formed in the panel 11.

These grooves 16 may take any cross-sectional shape adapted to efficiently retain the leg 5 in place and, will of course, run vertically of the board to accommodate the length of the leg member. The grooves or channel members 16 thus formed may be reinforced by ribs 17 running laterally of the board, engaging the groove members and peripheral flanges 12. When formed in plastic substances, this modification of the canasta board may be cast substantially integrally.

In practice, the playing cards which form the meld" are arranged in one of the guideways formed intermediate the clamps 2 as the game proceeds, each card being slid between the clamp on the left thereof and the leg 5 of the adjacent clamp to the right. The curved corner 2" at the top end of the clamp facilitates entry of each card into the guideway, as will be seen from inspection of the group of cards shown at C, Fig. 1. The cards arranged in the meld are easily distinguished, the suit thereof being visible through the transparent clamp along the left side of the cards.

When the meld is completed the cards in the guideway are swept downwardly at a stroke of the hand, collected and stacked in the Canasta rack above; the red threes are, as will be understood, stacked in the rack 4.

The invention is thus seen to provide a convenient, novel and compact playing board facilitating the course of the game and permitting ready observation of the progress thereof by all the players.

Having thus described the invention and the mode of its application in practice, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A canasta board having a bearing surface for the support of playing cards thereon, said board being provided with means to hold melds, means to hold canastas, and means to hold red threes; said means to hold melds comprising spaced clamps each of which includes an upright leg portion and a lateral portion engageable with said bearing surface, said leg portions being spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the width of a conventional playing card, and said clamps having a length substanv Patented May 14,. 19,57

tially greater than the length of a conventional playing card and being transparent whereby a series of cards in a meld may be held in spread out fashion so that the value and suit of each card in the meld is clearly visible, said means to hold canastas comprising a clamp similar tosaid first-named clamps extending transversely to the direction in which said first-named clamps extend and being substantially greater in length than the length of said first-named clamps whereby a series of canastas may be held in clearly visible position, said means to hold the red threes comprising a clamp similar to said first-named clamps but having a length less than that of said firstnamed clamps and extending in alinement with said means to hold canastas.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

